US General Election - 2008

Granted, this may be a wee bit too early, but let get started - This thread is referring to not only the United States of America's election for the President for the year 2008, but also the election process in general. I presume any specific congress race can have their own thread assuming there's something exciting going on there.

Here are the current candidates for the President (not quite nominated at this time - that will happen at the party convention) --

To add to the OP, John McCain is the presumptive nominee. Barack Obama still require approximately 140 more delegates to win the nomination, which is statistically very likely according to several media sources.

Well it certainly is true that neither McCain nor Obama are guaranteed nomination, talking about anyone else at this point is silly. Unless something irregular or extraordinary happens on either side, they WILL be the nominees, so it is fair to talk about it that way for now. If/when the situation changes, we can shift our discourse.

That said, one of the most exciting things on the ballot this fall for me is California High-Speed Rail (Wikipedia because the .ca.gov site is broken in firefox). Granted, the governator is proposing pushing the bill off the ballot yet again, but my fingers are crossed. it would be awesome to travel in just a few hours from san jose to la/anaheim/DISNEYLAND! without having to go through an airport and all of the hassle it entails.

As for McCain theres also the matter of his place of birth and campaign finances irregularities (and potential illegalities) to be resolved.

Virtually every article I've read states that while interesting, the McCain would almost certainly win in court on the birth place issue if it came up. It's been a while since I've even heard about this - I'll see if I can find an old link.

Uh, yeah, it is. If this turns into a parallel for the primaries thread I'm going to lock this, just so you know, people shouldn't have to follow two threads for the same information. Until the conventions happen this is pretty premature, no matter how certain the nominations seem. We'll see how it goes, just a heads up for you and everyone else.

Granted, I only hear what's going on in Georgia, but they have led me to believe that it's not an isolated plan/idea.

I can't imagine the GOP tolerating much mischief. I imagine they'd be much more willing to suspend convention rules and ram through what they want, rather than have the Ronulans mess with what's supposed to be a 3 day free advertising blitz. They'd rather take the hit from some back benchers complaining than let them open the floor to debate on some of Ron's ideas.

McCain's health could be a big issue for debate. If he shows even the slightest inability to keep up with the pressure of the campaign, he's toast. I don't even know what they'd do if he had a medical incident that incapacitated him sometime between the convention and November. Maybe hold an emergency convention to nominate another person via back-door means.

On my state (WA) level, we're getting a rematch between the two people who ran for governor in 2004. Gregoire (D) eventually won by about 53 votes and 3 recounts, and Rossi has been the presumptive GOP candidate since he lost (he never conceded the race). But she's done a pretty decent job running the state, and so far, a lot fewer big-wigs are willing to put money behind him. I expect her to win by a much bigger margin, and put to rest the conservative complainers about her being illegit.

Other than that, we do have a GOP congressman who's listed as one of the most endangered. He's facing a woman he beat by an ok margin in 2006. But the district has gone more blue since then, and she's outraising him by a healthy amount.

McCain's health could be a big issue for debate. If he shows even the slightest inability to keep up with the pressure of the campaign, he's toast. I don't even know what they'd do if he had a medical incident that incapacitated him sometime between the convention and November. Maybe hold an emergency convention to nominate another person via back-door means.

Originally posted by bcherry:That said, one of the most exciting things on the ballot this fall for me is California High-Speed Rail (Wikipedia because the .ca.gov site is broken in firefox). Granted, the governator is proposing pushing the bill off the ballot yet again, but my fingers are crossed. it would be awesome to travel in just a few hours from san jose to la/anaheim/DISNEYLAND! without having to go through an airport and all of the hassle it entails.

I'm voting for it, if it's there.

...

quote:

Hey, this site doesn't attract liberals as much as intellectuals, if anyone can pose reasoned rationale for why McCain would be a good president let them do so and have them stand on their own merits.

Granted, I only hear what's going on in Georgia, but they have led me to believe that it's not an isolated plan/idea.

I can't imagine the GOP tolerating much mischief. I imagine they'd be much more willing to suspend convention rules and ram through what they want, rather than have the Ronulans mess with what's supposed to be a 3 day free advertising blitz. They'd rather take the hit from some back benchers complaining than let them open the floor to debate on some of Ron's ideas.

McCain's health could be a big issue for debate. If he shows even the slightest inability to keep up with the pressure of the campaign, he's toast. I don't even know what they'd do if he had a medical incident that incapacitated him sometime between the convention and November. Maybe hold an emergency convention to nominate another person via back-door means.

On my state (WA) level, we're getting a rematch between the two people who ran for governor in 2004. Gregoire (D) eventually won by about 53 votes and 3 recounts, and Rossi has been the presumptive GOP candidate since he lost (he never conceded the race). But she's done a pretty decent job running the state, and so far, a lot fewer big-wigs are willing to put money behind him. I expect her to win by a much bigger margin, and put to rest the conservative complainers about her being illegit.

Other than that, we do have a GOP congressman who's listed as one of the most endangered. He's facing a woman he beat by an ok margin in 2006. But the district has gone more blue since then, and she's outraising him by a healthy amount.

I wouldn't have conceded that race either. The number of fraudulent votes found after the vote was "certified" outnumber the margin of victory three fold.

Joe Lieberman - McCain would try to paint him as a moderate, but his run with Gore would hurt McCain among conservatives.

Rick Perry - He's the governor of Texas and is as hated in Texas as W was. Voters would hopefully be wary of another Texas governor.

Condoleezza Rice - Her association with the Bush administration would hurt McCain's campaign.

Mitt Romney - Democrats would be able to run political ads with clips of Romney and McCain attacking each other in January and February.

Since the RNC is three weeks before the DNC, will Obama be able to choose his VP after McCain or will he have to choose (at least behind closed doors) before either convention?

The Republican National Convention is September 1-4. The Democratic National Convention is August 25-28. Generally, they may have people in mind before the conventions, but probably won't formally announce one until the convention itself. MN governor Tim Pawlenty has been angling for a VP shot for years, and is considered in the running.

The Washington Post speculated on VP candidates for McCain and Obama, and came up with:

quote:

Here is the Post's list of the "five most logical veeps," assuming McCain and Obama are the candidates, ranked in the order of the likelihood of being chosen.

REPUBLICANS5. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts

4. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida

3. Former Rep. Rob Portman of Ohio

2. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota

1. Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota

DEMOCRATS5. Former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia

4. Gov. Tim Kaine of Virgina

3. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York

2. Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio

1. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas

More specifically, on Pawlenty:

quote:

1 Tim Pawlenty: The Minnesota governor remains the single possibility in the Republican vice presidential field who best fits what McCain wants and needs in a VP. Pawlenty has been elected twice in a Democratic-leaning state that is almost certain to be a battleground in the fall. He is liked and respected by both conservatives and moderates, and he gets rave reviews for his political instincts. He has also known McCain for nearly three decades and, at 47, could allay some concerns about McCain's age.